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The Pride of Palestine: Texas Town Follows Its Star

PALESTINE, Tex., Sept. 19 — This rural railroad town of 17,598 gave Adrian Peterson quite a send-off to the N.F.L. in June. Thousands of people lined Main Street for a parade honoring Peterson, the Minnesota Vikings’ first-round draft pick.

Afterward, at Palestine High School’s Wildcat Stadium, where he forged his legend as the most celebrated tailback from East Texas since Earl Campbell, Peterson flashed his million-dollar smile and made a simple promise to the sun-baked crowd of 4,000: “I am going to represent Palestine to my fullest.”

Thus far, the 6-foot-1, 217-pound Peterson has lived up to his word.

With Chester Taylor, the Vikings’ leading rusher last season, out with a hip injury since the first quarter of the season opener, Peterson has excelled. Entering Sunday, he led N.F.L. rookies in rushing yards (169). His 303 all-purpose yards are also best among rookies and fifth best in the N.F.L. He is averaging 4.3 yards a carry and is on pace for 1,352 rushing yards, as well as 40 receptions for 896 receiving yards.

Peterson, 22, is well on his way to becoming the face of the Vikings, who last made the playoffs in 2004.

Detroit defensive tackle Cory Redding said Peterson “can be as good as he wants to be.”

Now living more than 1,000 miles from Palestine, Peterson said he has not forgotten his roots.

Photo

Taken seventh over all by the Vikings, Adrian Peterson leads all rookies with 169 rushing yards.Credit
Harry Howe/Getty Images

“That’s my hometown,” he said of Palestine, which is nestled in piney woods 110 miles southeast of Dallas. “Nothing has changed at all. I remember where I came from.”

Since being drafted seventh over all and signing a five-year, $40 million contract, Peterson has taken care of his family.

He bought a house in the Houston area for his mother and stepfather, Bonita and Frankie Jackson. For Father’s Day, he gave his father, Nelson Peterson, a metallic gray BMW 760Li, the same model he drives in black. Nelson said Adrian is also buying him a house.

“We’re really blessed,” Nelson Peterson said in a telephone interview.

Adrian Peterson lives in Eden Prairie, Minn., an upscale suburb of Minneapolis, where the Vikings have their corporate offices and practice facility. He shares his five-bedroom home with his brother Derrick Peterson. It has a purple basement with a billiards table, but Peterson is proudest of the bedroom painted lime green with blue clouds on the ceiling, where his 2-year-old daughter, Adeja, stays when she visits from Texas.

Peterson is popular in Eden Prairie. Neighbors put good-luck signs in his front yard before games, and they bring him cookies and brownies.

During his rare breaks from football, Peterson sleeps, plays video games on his 50-inch television and occasionally eats at Wildfire, a 1940s-style chophouse.

Yet Derrick Peterson insists that money has not changed his brother, as evidenced by his steady diet of sardines, Vienna sausages, Spam and ramen noodles.

“He’s still country,” Derrick Peterson, 22, said in a telephone interview. “He’s keeping it real.”

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Peterson, who grew up in gritty Palestine, Tex., said, I remember where I came from.Credit
Aaron M. Sprecher for The New York Times

Richardson said that Peterson, whom he calls Mr. Boogie for his frequent locker room dancing, could have played in the N.F.L. straight out of high school because of his talent. Instead, he attended Oklahoma, where he played for three seasons before leaving for the N.F.L.

“I’ve never seen a running back like him that wants to go to the house every time,” Richardson said.

Peterson still looms as large as ever in Palestine. Everyone seemingly knows him and has a story to tell, whether serving him mashed potatoes or giving him a ride home.

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At Palestine High, no player has asked to wear Peterson’s No. 28 since he graduated, Coach Glen Tunstall said. “They’re scared to wear it,” he said.

Lisa Tunstall, a teacher and Glen’s wife, remembered that Peterson would eat doughnuts in her first-period art class and practiced his autograph on his acrylic painting of a sunflower. She still has a printmaking block with footballs that he carved.

“I just remember thinking then, ‘How can this sweet young man become someone that you see on TV?’ ” she said.

John Johnson, a senior quarterback at Palestine, said opposing teams continue to talk about Peterson.

“Because of him, everybody knows who we are,” Johnson said.

At the local Wal-Mart, a hub of social activity, Peterson’s purple No. 28 Vikings jersey sells for $24.83 and a purple T-shirt that features images of his face, him in uniform and his autograph sells for $12.83. When Peterson appears on magazine covers, the store orders extra copies to accommodate demand, a store manager said.

King, 21, said that she dated Peterson briefly in high school in 2001 but that she was unable to keep the competition away.

“There were just too many girls,” she said.

At the Cotton Patch Cafe, where Peterson used to eat chicken-fried steak and mashed potatoes on Fridays before high school games, the restaurant’s marquee reads, “GOOD LUCK AD PETERSON.” A.D. is Peterson’s childhood nickname, given to him because it was said he could run all day.

When Peterson plays, the cafe’s business dwindles considerably, the assistant manager La Kisha Haynes said. Customers have also been known to become irate if the restaurant’s televisions are not tuned in to his games, she said. “Everybody’s watching him,” Haynes said. “It’s a really big thing here.”

Elizabeth Walker, 59, a housekeeper, said, “We’re sharing him with the entire nation.”

Mayor Carolyn F. Salter said the attention that Peterson generates for Palestine is a tremendous advertisement.

“We certainly aren’t going to pin any hopes on Adrian Peterson’s career as far as revitalizing our town,” Salter said in a telephone interview. “What we hope is that Adrian will be an ambassador for our city.”

Jason Lively, who attended Palestine High with Peterson, ordered DirecTV’s N.F.L. Sunday Ticket package to watch him play and expects him to crack the 1,000-yard rushing barrier in the next seven to eight games.

Lively, 23, wore a purple Peterson T-shirt and said Sundays in Palestine meant more because Peterson was playing in the N.F.L.

“Now, Palestine, Tex., is on the map,” he said.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page SP10 of the New York edition with the headline: The Pride of Palestine: Texas Town Follows Its Star. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe